


I Hope I Never Lose You (Hope It Never Ends)

by seekrest



Series: All’s Well That Ends Well (to End Up With You) [4]
Category: Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: (but they won't admit it), Alternate Universe - No Powers, College Student Peter Parker, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers, Idiots in Love, Jewish Peter Parker, Miscommunication, Mutual Pining, Romantic Gestures, Slow Burn, eventually, one step forward three steps back with these two
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-05
Updated: 2019-10-05
Packaged: 2020-11-24 11:20:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,044
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20906819
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seekrest/pseuds/seekrest
Summary: There was something between the two of them that was dangerous, something that if Michelle let it - would threaten to swallow her whole.It was a war in her own mind, the desire for Peter to want something more with her with the recognition that Michelle couldn’t allow herself to be hurt again - to face a rejection from someone that she hadn’t ever planned on liking in the first place.The kindness in Peter’s eyes - the way he’d looked at her just before he kissed her, she knew that he would never do that.But Michelle still couldn’t take that chance.





	I Hope I Never Lose You (Hope It Never Ends)

“Squish, you even listening?”

“Huh?” Michelle turns to her dad, watching as her parents exchange a look before her dad turns back to her. 

“You’ve been quiet all day. What’s going on?”

“Nothing, I’m---”

“She’s still whining cause she hasn’t heard back from her  _ boyfriend _ .” Lizzy laughs, Michelle rolling her eyes at her sister.

“He’s not my boyfriend.”

“You talk about him like he’s your boyfriend.”

“Listen here you little shit—“

“Lizzy, Squish, stop.” Michelle’s mom gives her a look before saying, “You’re the adult, Michelle. Don’t let her bother you.”

Michelle scoffs. “Are you serious right now?”

Michelle’s dad laughs, rolling his eyes. “Don’t think Lizzy gets it easy when you’re not around. Which speaking of, lay off your sister.” His tone is joking but firm enough that it makes Lizzy’s back straighten, Michelle feeling slightly smug until his eyes meet hers. 

“What’s this about a boyfriend?”

“Aaron.” Her mom warns.

“No, Elaine. I want to hear it. After the shit that Harry motherfucker pulled…”

Michelle says nothing, gritting her teeth as she watches her mom give her father a look. Her dad makes a face similar to how Michelle feels hers is, grinding his own teeth before sighing. 

Michelle looks to her mom, caution all over her face. 

“Is there something you want to talk to us about? Someone?”

Michelle purses her lips.

_ I don’t even fucking know. _

* * *

Meeting May - minutes after Michelle had composed herself, straightening out her shirt and fixing her hair - hadn’t been nearly as awkward as she expected, all of that being saved for the trip back to Cambridge the next day.

Where the silence before had been tense from an anger that that Michelle couldn’t even begin to try and explain to Peter, much less herself - the silence between them during the ride back had been… uncomfortable. An acknowledgement that they’d very nearly crossed a line that they wouldn’t have been able to come back from, a small part of Michelle wondering if they already had. 

Or if she even wanted to. 

They arrived back to MIT without incident, the Uber ride back to the apartment in a tentative silence. Michelle couldn’t stop thinking about Peter, what it felt like to kiss him and how much she wanted him to do it again but Peter didn’t say anything - Michelle catching him staring at her only for him to move his eyes away.

A part of Michelle wondered if she should say something, but then if Peter wasn’t going to then Michelle didn’t want to risk it. Especially if he regretted the whole thing - Michelle wasn’t sure she could’ve handled hearing that. 

The few weeks afterward were only filled with more awkwardness, Michelle thinking Peter was ignoring her if only because she knew how much she ignored him. 

They still ate dinner together a few times in the intervening weeks between Thanksgiving and winter break, always with a buffer since Ned and Betty took to spending more time in the apartment as finals approached. 

Michelle kept to her room mostly - only venturing out when she had to pee or needed something from the fridge. 

Betty tried to get them all together for a movie night once, Ned for another game night but Michelle declined - not even bothering to ask if Peter was going to be joining them, ensuring that no matter what the answer would be, Michelle wouldn’t be a part of it. 

It was silly, stupid in a way that Michelle knows is childish. They should talk about whatever it is that happened, discuss it - they weren’t teenagers. 

They were adults. Roommates. Friends even.

_ Friends who made out. Friends who almost fucked.  _

Michelle isn’t sure where Peter’s mind had been in his small little bedroom but it was that last thought that tortured Michelle, a reminder of how close she had gotten to breaking every rule that she’d ever set for herself - not just about Peter, but for all men, after Harry. 

Having sex with Bobby Keane had been a mistake, but not in the way Michelle would’ve normally considered it. It was meaningless, passing - it didn’t matter. 

But letting Peter kiss her, kissing him back - the memory of his hands traveling down the length of her chest and brushing just under her waistband, her dreams ending with him going even further - Michelle knew that if she had sex with Peter, it would mean something more, even if she didn’t want to admit it or face it.

That there was something between the two of them that was dangerous, something that if she let it - would threaten to swallow her whole. 

It was a war in her own mind, the desire for Peter to want something more with her with the recognition that Michelle couldn’t allow herself to be hurt again - to face a rejection from someone that she hadn’t ever planned on liking in the first place. 

Michelle couldn’t allow it, wouldn’t - refused. Not after what had happened the last time she’d let someone into her heart, not after having it shattered into a thousand pieces - pieces she still felt like she was putting back together. 

Peter wasn’t Harry, Michelle knew that in her gut. But then she hadn’t expected Harry to turn out the way he did. Hadn’t expected him to learn everything about her only to leave her devastated and feeling more unworthy and unloved than she had ever felt in her life.

The kindness in Peter’s eyes - the way he’d looked at her just before he kissed her, the way his hands had traveled across her body almost reverently - told her even if he hadn’t said the words, she knew that he would never do that, that he would never  _ be _ that to her.

But Michelle still couldn’t take that chance. 

* * *

She would’ve left for winter break without saying goodbye, scanning for Megabus tickets on her own until Peter cornered her in the kitchen, asking if she’d bought hers yet.

“Not yet, I’m—“

“Okay well if you want to ride together again, I was thinking of leaving Saturday around 2. Safety in numbers, you know?”

It wasn’t quite an invitation, but it felt like an olive branch - the joke in Peter’s tone undermined by the sincerity in his eyes.

Michelle considered it before agreeing and thinking back on it now, the ride hadn’t been nearly as awkward as she had thought it would be. 

They made small talk, Peter referencing some show he’d taken to binging alone - neither of them acknowledging the reason why. 

But rather than bring it up, Michelle took the olive branch - offering some suggestions for shows that were similar that he might like.

It felt almost like normal, like their easy banter back and forth before… 

Before they’d been alone in his apartment.

Before he’s pressed her up against the wall.

Before she’d had her tongue in his mouth. 

The reminder of it never left her mind for long, the way he had felt against her, the way her hands curled tightly into his hair.

Michelle blinks back the memory as she stared at him, letting her eyes linger on the crinkle of his eyes a little too long, studying the way his lips moved while he talked to her on the bus. 

She’d called him a pretty boy when they met and she hadn’t been wrong - but Michelle was amazed that she hadn’t realized just how good-looking Peter was until that moment. 

It was ridiculous, she knew what he looked like shirtless - had seen him half-naked, coming out of the shower more times than she can count.

But sitting beside him, Peter fully clothed in an MIT hoodie and jeans, Michelle felt like she’d never seen anyone more attractive than Peter looked just then.

It was dangerous and stupid and something Michelle couldn’t allow herself to think it.

But as Peter continued to talk, eyes bright and cheeks still flushed from the cold air - Michelle wondered if there was really any going back at this point. 

* * *

They’d parted with a wave, Peter heading off in one direction while she went the other. Her family went out of town for Christmas, as they always did but her mom’s work brought them back to New York - just before the new year. 

She should be relaxing on a beach right now, miles and miles away from the city and from Peter. Instead, she’s holed up on the couch in her living room - pouting as Lizzy stuck her tongue out at her.

“Elizabeth, I promise you—“

“Squish, why don’t you and Lizzy go out for a bit? Good old fashioned sister bonding?” Michelle snorted until she saw the seriousness in her dad’s eyes, sighing.

“Yeah, okay. Come on Fizz, let’s go.”

“Don’t call me that.”

“Lay off about my roommate and I’ll consider it.”

Lizzy rolled her eyes but jumped off the couch, Michelle smiling as she went to grab her coat.

Her mom stopped her, putting a hand out.

“You sure you’re alright? Something you want to talk to us about?”

Michelle nodded. “Yeah, I’m fine. Peter’s just a friend.”

Her parents share a look, Michelle getting the distinct impression that they didn’t believe her. They’d done that all her life, seemingly having entire conversations without saying a word. 

It’s a small thing but it was something Michelle always hoped to have with someone someday, something she’d thought she’d finally found with Harry.

She’d been wrong, Michelle knew that. But the sight of her parents coming to whatever conclusion that they did made her wish she had that feeling again.

The feeling of loving someone, of fooling yourself into thinking that they loved you too. The silly hope that someday, she wouldn’t be fooling herself - that they actually would. 

“Alright. If you say so.” Michelle’s mom lets her hand go, her dad giving her a head nod.

“Pick us up some almond milk while you’re out, I think your mom’s lactose intolerance is rubbing off on me.” Both Michelle and her mom laugh, her mom especially so.

“You know damn well that’s not how it works, Aaron.”

Her dad shrugs, Michelle rolling her eyes as she walked towards the hallway for her jacket - Lizzy already waiting.

“I’m not the doctor in the family.” He says, Michelle smiling as she put her coat on.

Seeing the two of them together - even with all the shit she’d been through - made Michelle think that maybe love was still out there, that maybe love was still real.

Michelle didn’t think it would happen for her, but it was nice to think it still existed.

* * *

“Can we get frozen yogurt on the way back?”

“No.”

“Come  _ on _ , squish please!” Michelle rolls her eyes then smiles, affectionately tugging at one of her little sister’s braids. She was annoying and sarcastic and was a little too smart for her own good but as much as Lizzy annoyed the shit out of her, Michelle loved being her sister.

The world was cruel and mean and filled with terrors that Michelle never wanted her to see. Michelle had to toughen her up for it, but even she wasn’t so heartless as to deny her sister this. 

“I  _ guess _ , if and only if, you drop it with the Peter stuff in front of mom and dad, alright?”

Michelle says it jokingly but there must be something in her tone that Lizzy recognizes, soberly nodding her head as she walks ahead. 

Lizzy didn’t know much about Harry or why they broke up and even if Michelle had every intention of warning her of boys - and girls - in the abstract, she intended on keeping the truth about Harry from Lizzy for as long as possible. 

It’s silent for a few moments before Lizzy stops, Michelle turning back to her.

“Okay don’t be mad but, doesn’t Peter live in the city too?”

“Elizabeth—“

“No, I’m not, I mean- look!” Lizzy points her finger forward, Michelle immediately going to bring it down because pointing to strangers was already rude but was something her sister especially had to learn that she of all people couldn’t do. 

Michelle may have looked more like a blend of her parents but Lizzy favored their mother more - dark brown skin that made Michelle fiercely protective of the world that she’d have to live in. 

It was another thing that she had to talk with her about, Harry’s face coming to mind as she winced. 

Harry and his family hadn’t been her first experience with hatred but it seemed as if her time with him had infiltrated every part of Michelle’s mind anyway. 

“Lizzy, put—“ But then Michelle sees what, or who, Lizzy is pointing to and it’s as if her heart stops.

Because there in front of her, browsing in front of some used bookstore - is Peter… arm in arm with a gorgeous blonde.

She knows from pictures that this isn’t Gwen, the woman he’s with being more… endowed than his ex-girlfriend. But there’s a casualness between them that indicates intimacy, though to what extent Michelle doesn’t know and immediately decides she doesn’t care.

“Are you going to—“

“No, stop pointing. Let’s go, Elizabeth.”

For once in her life, Lizzy doesn’t argue - Michelle grabbing her hand as they march past the bookstore, Michelle wishing her sister wasn’t with her - otherwise she’d cross the middle of the street, and if a taxi hit her well, that’s just how it ends. 

She doesn’t even think to pray to any deity that will listen to her that he won’t see her before Peter’s voice calls out, Michelle cringing.

“MJ?”

Lizzy stops before she does, Michelle slowly turning around - putting on the fakest smile she can manage on her face.

“Hey Parker, have a good Christmas?”

“Uh, Hanukkah actually but yeah.” Michelle kicks herself for forgetting, only to remember that it didn’t matter because they were only friends. He seems to go for something in his pocket though, the blonde that was with him giving her a mischievous smile.

“MJ, huh? The roommate? I’ve heard a lot about you.”

“Oh really?” Michelle replies tersely, the blonde only smiling wider.

“Yeah, me and Pete go way back. Don’t we?” She tweaks his side, Peter rolling his eyes as he finds what he’s looking for. 

“Yeah yeah, Felicia, MJ, MJ, Felicia. Here, I got you something.”

It’s a small box, the bow on it slightly crumpled from being in his pocket. Michelle stares at it for a beat too long before Lizzy takes it from his hand, grinning from ear to ear.

“Thanks, Peter. I’m Elizabeth but you can call me Lizzy.”

“Hey Lizzy,” Peter smiles, leaning down to shake her hand. “Nice to finally meet you.”

Lizzy giggles, the sound of it snapping Michelle back into focus. 

“Yeah, nice to— it was good to see you, Parker.”

Peter looks taken aback at Michelle’s tone, going to say something before Michelle stops him. 

“You’re clearly busy, we won’t keep you. Thanks for the gift, I’ll see you next year.” 

Michelle grabs Lizzy’s hand, turning to walk away before Peter can respond - hearing Felicia’s voice in the background.

“What’s with her?”

Michelle feels furious, though she can’t explain why, Lizzy almost being dragged behind her.

“Squish, slow down!”

But she can’t slow down, can’t think about what she saw and how stupid she’d been.

Peter was clearly moving on and despite what had happened between them - what  _ almost  _ happened - and that she had seen a picture of one of his high school girlfriends, Peter clearly had a type.

Blonde. Short. White.

Seeing him with Felicia stings, even if Michelle can’t bring herself to admit just how much. They’d made out but that was clearly a fluke, Peter refusing to say two words to her for almost three weeks afterwards coming what Michelle had been telling herself for weeks. 

Peter didn’t like her and he never did, that moment in the apartment just a moment of weakness between the two of them - reaching out for something or someone until they got over themselves. 

Michelle inexplicably thinks of her own parents as she drags Lizzy away, the love that they’d found with each other despite all the obstacles and the bullshit.

Peter wasn’t Harry. He would never be Harry. But seeing him with Felicia made Michelle think that maybe she had been wrong. 

She shouldn’t feel this hurt, she doesn’t  _ love _ Peter Parker - they're barely friends. 

But even as she walks away, a sinking feeling in her stomach forms at the idea that even if her and Peter might be friends, she really hadn’t considered until then just how much she might want to be more than that.

* * *

“What’s with her?”

Peter is dumbfounded, shaking his head as he watched Michelle and her little sister stomp away. She looked… almost hurt, aggravated at seeing him and Peter’s at a complete loss as to why.

Well, maybe not a complete loss - thinking back to how awkward they’d been around each other since they made out in his old apartment during Thanksgiving.

He flexes his hand involuntarily, the memory of his hands exploring Michelle’s body - just stopping short of where he wanted to go - before May had walked in.

May hadn’t batted an eye - oblivious to the fact that she had interrupted anything, even as Peter still burned with embarrassment. He had his own place now, he shouldn’t still be thinking of how to not get caught with a girl before his aunt came home.

But the girl in question  _ also _ lives at his place and for as much as he tried to see her, Michelle seemed to be avoiding him.

It was stupid, Peter knew it - especially since Peter was convinced that he liked her, or at least wanted to see if they could be… something.

Making out with Michelle had been fun, but it was deeper than that - Peter feeling something beyond horniness when he’d been on top of her, that kissing her had felt like he had found something he didn’t even know he was searching for. 

Michelle was smart, funny, beautiful - in a million different ways and Peter wondered how the hell he hadn’t noticed it before, though if he was honest with himself - he knew that he’d always known it, even if he had been too stupid to admit it.

He liked being around her, liked her smile and her laugh. Liked the way she teased him when he was being stupid yet never being truly mean.

He liked splitting dinner with her, liked meeting her for lunch - watching as she’d seemingly try anything and everything, never once settling for the usual.

If Peter thought about it, Michelle approached her lunch choices the way she approached life - open, unafraid, ready to take on the world no matter what tried to stop her.

At least that’s how he saw her. And Peter admired that about her, and so many other things. 

But then Michelle had seemed closed off on the ride home, distant. And Peter - not knowing what else to do - just let her be. He tortured himself the entire ride home, thinking of what to say and how to say it - to even begin to talk about what had almost happened, how much he wanted it to happen again - meeting her eyes only to look away. 

But he didn’t, the coldness and silence from Michelle making him question if she had really ever wanted to kiss him in the first place, Peter wondering if she’d somehow felt trapped or worse. Peter was horrified to think that he had made her do something she hadn’t wanted to. 

She’d said she did or at least Peter thinks so, running the interaction over and over in his mind - only to get distracted from the memory of how Michelle’s body felt pressed up against him, how much he liked touching her curves and kissing her neck.

It was horrifying for Peter to think - and he had to be right for how silent she had been - that he’d done something that made her uncomfortable. Her avoidance him the past few weeks confirmed it, Peter kicking himself for losing control - not for asking her, explicitly what she wanted. He didn’t know how to fix it, or wondered if he even could. 

He’d told Felicia about it, wondering how he could make it right - figuring that if anyone would be able to make sense of it without asking a hundred questions, she’d be the one to do it.

“I’m… I don’t know.” He answers as Michelle fades off into the distance. Felicia laughs, Peter turning to her.

“Are you really  _ that _ bad in bed? I mean, let’s face it Peter, having sex with you was enough to make me realize I was gay.”

Peter rolled his eyes, as Felicia continued to laugh at his expense. It was an old joke between them now, Peter’s pride only vaguely annoyed at how loud she was being.

Felicia hadn’t been his first girlfriend but she had been his  _ first _ \- Peter remembering how nervous and awkward and intimidating it had been to not just lose his virginity, but to lose it with Felicia Hardy of all people. 

They’d become fast friends in high school after Liz moved away, quickly turning into something more until after a month of officially dating - and sleeping together - she broke up with him.

Peter had been hurt at the time, thinking maybe he’d done something wrong, only for Felicia to share a rare glimpse of vulnerability with him - coming out to him in his bedroom when he was seventeen. 

It would’ve been more awkward if Peter didn’t feel immediately sympathetic, knowing how tough and closed-minded her parents were. Peter happily served as her fake boyfriend for the rest of high school, to her parents at least - while they wingmanned each other for parties on weekends. 

They’d gone to separate colleges - Felicia sticking close to home at NYU but they’d stayed in touch, enough so that when Peter’s conversations moved from talking about Gwen to Michelle, Felicia noticed. 

Felicia had been the one to suggest the gift, a peace offering - encouraging Peter to get her something that Michelle would like without being too obvious what it was for.

“What  _ is _ it for exactly?” Peter had asked, Felicia rolling her eyes as if he was stupid.

“If you have to ask then don’t get it, Pete.” She’d answered, Peter turning over the bracelet in his hand.

He did know, even if he wasn’t sure if he could admit it out loud. Something that told her that they were friends, that maybe they could even be more than that - if she wanted. Something to say that he was sorry but only if she was, that he hadn’t stopped thinking about her since Thanksgiving but didn’t want to overstep any of the boundaries she so clearly had. 

Peter thought from how she’d kissed him, that telling him she wanted to move to his bedroom had been a sign that she was okay, that she wanted him - more than just a friend. 

But then after the past few weeks - and seeing her now - Peter was unsure if she actually did.

“We didn’t have sex, we barely— we didn’t get very far.” Peter answers, Felicia tilting her head as she thought. 

“Well, look you’ll see her again next week right? If you think you can last that long, wait till you’re back home and talk it out then. If not, just call her or something. Text. You got options, kid.”

Peter smirked. “I’m six months older than you.”

Felicia rolled her eyes, turning away from him as she grabbed a copy of some trashy romance novel. “Age does not equal experience, Peter. Remember, I taught you everything you know.” She wiggles her eyebrows suggestively, Peter laughing even as his thoughts go back to Michelle.

“Not  _ everything _ …”

“I don’t know, clearly not enough if the last girl you made out with is running away from you.”

Peter looks back in the direction Michelle went, knowing she was long gone as he thought. 

He wasn’t sure how to fix whatever the hell was going on between the two of them. Or if he even could. 

But as Felicia moved on to talking about something else, Peter still staring out into the crowd - he was absolutely sure that he wanted to.

* * *

“Hey May, I’m home.”

“Hey sweetheart, did you pick up the—“ May smiles as Peter lifts up a rotisserie chicken, taking off his shoes before stepping forward. 

“We still have a ton of latkes, I don’t know how you think we’ll be able to eat anything else other than potatoes until the new year.”

May laughs, Peter kissing her cheek as he brings the chicken to the kitchen. “That’s exactly why kiddo, gotta spice up our lives somehow.”

Peter goes back towards the living room, peeling off his jacket and scarf. May says nothing but he can already tell - from a lifetime of living with her - that there’s something on her mind.

“What’s up, May?”

“Nothing.” She says a little too innocently. “Just thinking about you. That’s still allowed right? Or are you too grown for that?”

Peter laughs, grabbing his phone out of his pocket as he goes to sit across from her, settling into his favorite chair. 

“Nah, I’ll allow it. Good to know someone’s watching out for me.” 

May hums in response, Peter lounging on the chair as he starts to scroll through social media. It’s still quiet, Peter knowing she wants to say something but waiting to see how long it’ll be before she goes for it.

Two minutes, apparently.

“So have you heard from MJ lately?”

Peter sighs, putting his phone down as he looks back to May.

“Saw her yesterday actually, not that I think it matters.”

“What do you mean?”

“It—“ Peter lifts his hands, making a face before bringing them back down. “I don’t know, like I thought she might  _ like _ me which I know sounds stupid but then she’s been ignoring me for weeks. And then yesterday she was really weird, running off before I could even say anything. Felicia said that she—“

“Whoa whoa whoa hold it, wait. Felicia was there?”

Peter nods, watching as May sighs - confused at how exasperated she looked.

“Yeah?”

“Oh Pete. Kid, you know I love you and think you’re one of the smartest people I know but sometimes you really don’t have a clue, do you?”

“May!”

“Peter,” May laughs, rolling her eyes. “Think about how it must’ve looked to her, to see you and Felicia together after weeks of barely talking. Of ignoring each other?” 

Peter pauses, furrowing his eyebrows as he thinks.

“But… Felicia’s gay? I mean we dated in high school but MJ doesn’t know that.”

“MJ doesn’t know a  _ lot  _ of things, Peter. For all MJ knows, you messed around with her only to find a cute blonde to hang around with during the break.”

“May!” Peter flushes, even as May rolls her eyes.

“You weren’t slick at sixteen and you’re not slick now, Peter. I’m not saying you have to tell me the details but trust me, I know when my kid’s up to something.”

“We didn’t—“

May puts a hand up, shaking her head. “Like I said, you can talk to your buddies about the details but from a woman’s perspective? From anyone’s? You look like an ass, Pete. Bringing her over here, ignoring her for the past few weeks, only to see you again with someone who looks like  _ Felicia _ .”

Peter’s dumbfounded, feeling like the dumbass that Michelle always told him he was.

“But Felicia’s gay.”

“And MJ doesn’t know that. Because you haven’t talked to her.”

“But I didn’t—“

“I’m not saying you both shouldn’t have said something to each other by this point, I’m not putting all the blame on you Pete.” May sighs, though the concern and love in her eyes is undeniable as she leans forward. 

“But if you like this girl, and I think that you do, you need to set things straight. Sooner, rather than later.”

May nods, as if she’s finished before getting up off the couch and heading towards the kitchen - leaving Peter to his thoughts.

She’s right, Peter knows she is - even if the dots hadn’t connected until May had said it. 

The look of hurt and something almost like betrayal in Michelle’s eyes made so much more sense now, Peter burning with embarrassment at how much Michelle must think he’s a jackass - especially since for as much as she ignored him, Peter hadn’t really made an effort to really see what she was feeling. 

He’d been scared, unsure if he’d crossed a line. But now thinking back to how Michelle’s face looked today, Peter wondered if her avoidance hadn’t been because he had crossed a line she hadn’t wanted him to - but if he had, and then hadn’t done anything about it.

He immediately feels like an idiot, thinking that he should know Michelle better by now - that she was guarded and protective of herself in a way that Peter wanted to know what the hell had happened but would never push her about it. 

May’s right, Michelle could’ve talked to him - but Peter knows her, better than May does. Peter should’ve initiated the conversation -  _ any _ conversation - weeks and weeks ago. 

He picks up his phone again, opening up his texts before his thumb hovers over Michelle’s thread.

This feels like a conversation they should have in person, much less over the phone or text - but thinking to how angry Michelle looked, Peter’s not even sure she’d want to meet up with him. Wondering just how much he’d fucked up by not just talking to her on the ride back to school. 

But then he thinks about the way her face lights up when she smiles, the conversations they’d had about her dreams and what she wanted to do in the world.

Peter likes Michelle, there’s no denying it now. But as he moves his thumb across their text thread, typing out a message - asking if she would meet up for coffee - Peter hopes that maybe it still wasn’t too late to save whatever was between them from ending before it even had the chance to begin. 

**Author's Note:**

> Are you screaming at them? Don't worry, I'm screaming too.
> 
> Let's scream together <3


End file.
